Currently available lighting systems include incandescent, fluorescent, halogen, and high intensity discharge sources of light. Disadvantages exist within lighting systems based on these illumination sources, many related to efficiency. Presently, only about 30% of the electrical energy consumed in lighting applications results in the production of light. The remainder of the electrical energy is dissipated by non-radiative processes such as heat generation. Incandescent light sources, for example, consume 45% of all lighting energy but only produce 14% of the total light generated. Moreover, fluorescent lamps are only about four times as efficient as incandescent sources and still suffer from inherent energy loss.
New lighting technologies are being developed in attempts to overcome the disadvantages of current lighting systems. One such technology is based on light emitting diodes (LEDs). In general, light emitting diodes are constructed from semiconductor materials, and when biased, emit radiation. Depending on the semiconductor material used, the emitted radiation can fall within the ultraviolet, visible, or infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Light emitting diodes offer the advantages of enhanced lifetimes, reduced heat production, and rapid illumination times. Disadvantages of light emitting diodes, nevertheless, include temperature dependent performance characteristics, unidirectional light output, and narrow emission bands. The narrow emission characteristics of light emitting diodes require several diodes of varying emission profiles to be bundled in order to produce a white light source. Bundling light emitting diodes to produce a white light source is expensive making their use in many lighting applications cost prohibitive.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages, it would be desirable to provide lighting compositions and systems which offer alternatives to lighting systems based on incandescent, fluorescent, halogen, high intensity discharge, and light emitting diode technologies. It would additionally be desirable to provide methods of making such lighting compositions and systems.